It was in July 2007 when Mike L. asked the Pennsylvania courts to declare that he was no longer the father of his daughter. For four years, Mike had known that the girl he had rocked to sleep and danced with across the living-room floor was not, as they say, “his.” The revelation from a DNA test was devastating and prompted him to leave his wife — but he had not renounced their child. He continued to feel that in all the ways that mattered, she was still his daughter, and he faithfully paid her child support. It was only when he learned that his ex-wife was about to marry the man who she said actually was the girl’s biological father that Mike flipped. Supporting another man’s child suddenly became unbearable.

A Brentwood couple has filed a lawsuit against the state of Tennessee for the right to choose the last name of their newborn son, Brentwood Homepage reports. Carl Abramson and Kim Sarubbi married in 2001, and decided "for personal and professional reasons" they would give their children a surname that combined both their last names— "Sabr." When the family moved to Tennessee in 2014 and had their third child, Abramson and Sarubbi were denied their request to use the hybrid name and instead were issued a birth certificate for the child with the last name Abramson. Citing a violation with First Amendment rights, the couple turned to the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, which filed a lawsuit in federal court last week.

Greater gender equality leads to divorce. Women’s increased earning power leads to divorce. Men shouldering the burden of household chores leads to lower marital satisfaction and increased risk of divorce.

These are just a few examples of handwringing in the popular press about why women, and to a lesser extent men, are choosing divorce over what seem to be perfectly good marriages. It used to be that a woman would stick with her husband unless he was abusing her or cheating on her. Nowadays, women leave perfectly kind, helpful husbands for reasons that seem mysterious.

There are many theories floating around about why greater gender equality has not put an end to divorce in America. Underlying most of these theories is an acknowledgment that expectations about marriage have changed. Prior to the late 20th century, it was difficult for women to prosper financially, express their sexuality or have children outside of the context of marriage. Single and divorced women were also stigmatized. Wives, therefore, were willing to put up with a lot more unhappiness in marriage to avoid the social consequences of being unmarried or getting a divorce.

(UPI) -- A federal judge has ruled a portion of Utah's ban on plural marriage unconstitutional Wednesday, essentially decriminalizing the practice in the state.

U.S. District Court Judge Clark Waddoups' ruling took issue with the phrase "or cohabits with another person," writing that it was "a violation of the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and is without rational basis under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment."

His ruling is similar to one from last December, which the judge later reversed. Waddoups' ruling differs because he preserved the language "marry" and "purports to marry" -- meaning adults may not have more than one active marriage license.

(Reuters) - Birth certificates in California would be changed to more accurately reflect families in which parents are of the same gender under a bill passed by the legislature on Wednesday.

The bill, which now goes to Democratic Governor Jerry Brown, would allow parents to identify themselves as father, mother or parent when a child is born, a nuanced change from the current birth certificate that backers say is more reflective of growing rights and acceptance for same-sex couples.

"This bill seems subtle but I think it’s going to make a profound impact on how people view each other," said the bill's author, Democratic Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez of Los Angeles.